Nicolas Anne Theodule Changarnier, a French general, born at Autun, April 20, 1703. He was educated at the military school of St. Cyr, served as a lieutenant in the campaign of 1823 in Spain, and finally entered the royal guards. After the revolution of 1830 he went to Africa, where he soon distinguished himself, and he-came brigadier general in 1840, and general of division in 1843. In 1847 the duke d'Aumale, being governor general of Algeria, caused Changarnier to be put in command of the district of Algiers, and on the revolution of February resigned the governorship into his hands. Gen. Oavaignac having been appointed to this office by the republican government, Changarnier repaired to Paris, and was appointed ambassador to Berlin, but did not leave Paris, his services being required there to protect the national assembly. When Cavaignac became minister of war, Changarnier was appointed his successor as governor general of Algeria, which post he held for five months. Having been elected to the national assembly, he returned to Paris, and was invested with the command of the national guards.

When Louis Napoleon became president, Changarnier was appointed commander of the regular troops, known as the army of Paris. He prevented outbreaks on Jan. 29 and June 13, 184!), and supported Louis Napoleon for a considerable time, exciting the distrust of the republicans. But he afterward strenuously opposed the president's measures, and lost his command on Jan. 9, 1851. The project of the assembly to place him in command of a force for its special protection against arbitrary proceedings having fallen to the ground, Changarnier, after declaring that Louis Napoleon would not find even one single soldier to assist him in a coup d'etat, was powerless to prevent that event, and was arrested Dec. 2, 1851, and detained at Mazas for about a month, when he was banished from France, and took up his residence at Mechlin, Belgium. In 1859 he availed himself of the general amnesty to return to France. On the outbreak of the Franco-German war, Marshal Lebceuf, the minister of war, declined to avail himself of his services; but in August the emperor invited him to come to Met/, where he remained with Bazaine, who employed him in initiatory negotiations with Prince Frederick Charles, which resulted on Oct. 27 in the capitulation of the French army.

Changarnier was a prisoner of war in Germany until the conclusion of the armistice in January, 1871, after which he returned to Paris. He was elected to the national assembly by the departments of Gironde, Le Nord, and Somme, and took his Beat for the last named district.